


twitterpated

by readythefanons



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Birding, College AU, F/M, i aint apologizing for anything, make it neither horny nor repressed, rated T for some swearing i guess, shameless self indulgence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:27:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26673637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/readythefanons/pseuds/readythefanons
Summary: Without realizing what was happening, and mildly against her will, Leonie had ended up becoming the Vice President and Co-founder of the UF Leicester Chill-Ass Bird Watching and Nature Appreciation Club.
Relationships: Lorenz Hellman Gloucester/Leonie Pinelli
Comments: 19
Kudos: 31





	twitterpated

**Author's Note:**

> Like a potato chip, this fic has 0 nutritional value and I apologize for nothing  
> College AU, with birds. In which I asked "what if Lorenz wasn't a repressed mess?" and my brain responded "HUGE OBLIVOUS NERD. BIRD BRAIN." It's okay, brain, you're trying your best. TT_TT  
> idk how widely known this is, but a "life list" is the list of all the different bird species you've seen over the course of your life, and "ebird" is a website for bird nerds.

_Eee-ee! Eee-ee!_

Lorenz froze, looking up in the direction of the call. Sylvain was asleep and Ignatz and Ashe were probably by the creek, and Leonie was—out of the corner of his eye, he saw her freeze, also looking up. But that wasn’t as important as—

_Eee-ee! Eee-ee! Eee! Irr!_

That was it, that had to be it, that was the distinctive call of the East-Faerghan Warbler, AKA the _entire reason_ Lorenz was here. 

“That’s it, right?” Leonie whispered almost inaudibly. She’d crept closer while Lorenz was scanning the trees. He hushed her. “Right?” 

“Shh, yes, yes, shh! Keep looking, it’ll be yellow—”

“I know, hush,” Leonie said, employing the rare technique known as the counter-shush. Lorenz didn’t take offense, just kept staring avidly into the canopy.

_Eee-ee!_

==

Without realizing what was happening, and mildly against her will, Leonie had ended up becoming the Vice President and Co-founder of the UF Leicester Chill-Ass Bird Watching and Nature Appreciation Club.

It started like this: Leonie enrolled at UF Less because they had a decent nursing program _and_ a scholarship for students who came from a town in the county with a population of less than 2,000. So here Leonie was! First day of PEEG (Practical Ecology of East Gloucester), she spotted a familiar bowl cut: Igntaz Victor! Awesome, she loved that dude.

Blah blah, a lot of stuff happened, blah blah their professor took everyone birding two towns over, and Ignatz’s eyes were practically popping out of his head. (Not that Leonie could blame him; it was pretty gorgeous.) Blah blah, a bunch of stupid things happened, and the campus shrink said she should try spending more time on hobbies and shit. (Oh, yeah, Leonie started going to the campus shrink. On the one hand: bummer. On the other hand, counseling services were part of tuition so she might as well benefit.) Problem: Leonie didn’t really have any hobbies any more? 

Solution: Ignatz had a hobby. (It was art, obviously. Although Leonie was pretty sure it was less of a hobby and more of a _calling_.) And when Leonie saw the look on Ignatz’s face when he was enjoying The Majesty Of Nature, she got an idea.

So Leonie started taking Ignatz around to nice spots near campus for art inspiration. There was this dope-ass marsh a few hours away, and they saw a family of coots and a heron, and Ignatz fell in love or something. He was gushing about it, and there was a painting, and then Ashe started tagging along because apparently he was, like, a huge nerd and he loved wildflowers, birding, and something called ‘leaf peeping.’ And then Sylvain started coming (because he was avoiding some girl he’d hooked up with) because he allegedly liked nature too. So it was the four of them (Leonie, Ignatz, Ashe, and Sylvain) driving around in Leonie’s rust bucket every other weekend. It was chill as hell, but filling up the tank was a bit of a bummer. 

And then Ashe and Ignatz got the idea to petition the activities council to start an official club because apparently if you did that, you got a budget?

And thus, the Chill-Ass Bird Watching and Nature Appreciation Club ( _Chill and Bird Watching_ for the official paperwork) was born. 

Fast forward to second semester: Chill-Ass Bird Watching and Nature Appreciation Club was having their first meeting of the term, and who walked in? One Lorenz Hellman Gloucester.

Leonie thought he was, like, looking for an empty study room or somesuch, but no actually he… wanted to see the birds, _maybe, perhaps, if it’s not too, uh, if it’s amenable._ And Leonie’s car could probably fit them all, so. Fine. Sylvain could ride shotgun, and Ashe, Ignatz, and Lorenz would probably all fit in the back okay. And if Lorenz didn’t like how they rolled, he could always quit.

Lorenz did not quit. Lorenz showed up for their first outing of the semester ten minutes early, and he had binoculars _and_ a birding scope and a vest with a bunch of pockets _and_ an incredibly dorky hat on. Meanwhile Leonie was slouching around in hand-me-down flannel and an old jacket. Cool.

“Lorenz, over here,” she called. Lorenz startled at the sound of his name, looked around, and hurried over. 

“Ah, good morning, thank you for driving us—”

“It’s cool, dude. You want to put that in the trunk?” Leonie was already popping the trunk. Lorenz assented (fussing over making sure his scope was in a good position to minimize jostling, and Leonie was not sure he’d caught onto the _chill_ part of their club’s name, but alright) and then stood looking at Leonie with… weird energy. Or more like _too much_ energy.

They were saved from too much weirdness by Ignatz, who arrived with his own load of crap (equipment) which had to be finessed into the trunk. In addition to his art stuff, he also brought his cheerful morning-person personality. And two coffees. Thank goodness. Leonie sipped hers while he and Lorenz talked.

Leonie had Lorenz pegged as an uptight snob, but he was apparently also a _huge nerd_ , so that was fine. Ignatz was talking about starting his life list this year, and Lorenz was talking about ebird, and they were getting giddy over, like, vagrant bird sightings and citizen science so alright then. Lorenz was cool (translation: a huge dweeb) and was probably going to fit right in.

Ashe arrived with Sylvain in tow. He also brought doughnuts! Ashe was the best. Leonie helped herself to a jelly-filled doughnut, and Ashe got powdered sugar on the tip of his nose ( _Ashe_ ), and Sylvain already had a sprinkle doughnut in his hand, and Ignatz went for plain (or as he called it, a classic doughnut). Lorenz dithered but eventually settled on a custard doughnut. Alright.

They all piled into Leonie’s car. Sylvain rode shotgun and Ashe sat in the middle of the backseat. He and Ignatz and Lorenz talked about birds, and Leonie and Sylvain sang along to the radio. 

They were headed for a forest trail not too far from the school. They started off on the marked trail, but about half an hour in, Leonie led the group off-path and deeper into the woods. Lorenz squeaked when they left the path, but he settled easily enough. Leonie had been worried that his gear was going to be too bulky or heavy for the hike, but he hung onto his scope and didn’t breathe a word of complaint.

They made it their destination: a nice little spot partways up one of the hills. The rock of the hillside was exposed here, and it jutted out enough to give a little bit of a vantage over the forest they’d come through. You could kind of peer into the canopy instead of up at it, if that made sense. With a little more climbing (and a bit of scrambling) you could get high enough up the hill to see over the treetops and a general glimpse of the surrounding landscape. It was, if Leonie said so herself, a nice spot.

She dumped her bag and showed Ignatz the best way to get up the hill to the overlook, since he was going to want to do some sketches and she didn’t want him scrambling around getting lost when she was napping. Ashe came with them but got distracted halfway up by some weird lichens. Lorenz tagged along too and—okay, Leonie could admit it. She liked the look on his face when they made it to the overlook and he looked out to see the forests and meadows stretching out below.

They left Ignatz on the overlook, passed Ashe on the way down, and ended back where they’d left Sylvain and their bags. Sylvain was stretched out on the ground with his hands looped behind his head and his sunglasses on. Dork.

“Help me with the blanket,” Leonie said, nudging him with her foot. He rolled to his feet (the boy was tall and moved with the grace of a big cat, alright). The club blanket was Leonie’s own creation: an old, regular blanket that zipped onto an old tarp, to make lying on the ground less… wet. Lorenz hovered uncertainly as she and Sylvain laid it out.

“A blanket?” he asked. 

“For birdwatching,” Sylvain said. “They’re always above us, so this is easier on your neck.” Although that was hypothetically true, Sylvain liked it because he enjoyed napping even more than Leonie. Poor Lorenz just nodded, though, as if he was totally taken in by this transparent lie. 

Sylvain laid down. Leonie helped Lorenz find the best place to set up his scope, then wandered up the hill to check on Ashe and Ignatz. Ignatz was already sketching, and Ashe had a field guide out and was squatting next to some plants that, to Leonie’s expert eye, looked like little white flowers. The day was getting started in earnest as the sun finally started to get a proper angle on the sky. Looked like it was going to be a nice day.

They couldn’t spend the whole day on the hillside, unfortunately. For one thing, by Leonie’s standards, the guys were all unusually squeamish about peeing in the woods. So after a few hours they packed up their stuff and schlepped it back down the hillside. Leonie took pity on Lorenz and carried his scope for him, and Sylvain did the same for Ignatz (with some prompting from Ashe). Just one more thing to do: diner food.

The Sunflower Diner was just on the edge of town. Raphael and Maya were already there, sitting in the back corner with an array of plates before them. They piled into the booth, ordered their own food (all the food already at the table was to tide Raph and Maya over while they waited, obviously), and chat-chat-chatted. 

So yeah, Lorenz stuck around with the Chill-Ass Bird Watching And Nature Appreciation Club for the entire year. Leonie still hadn’t succeeded in convincing Ignatz to tell his parents to fuck off and declare a fine arts major, and Ashe hadn’t convinced her to switch over to ecology with him. In no particular order, Leonie got to watch Lorenz lose his mind over cedar waxwings, Adrestian falcons, three-spotted finches, weird looking ducks (that, uh, that wasn’t the common name… that was just a description. There were a lot of weird ducks in the world), orioles, and a Gloucester night heron. Basically, every time they saw an unusual bird, the dude looked like he was having a religious experience. It was. It was kind of charming.

She made an ebird account and signed up for the rare bird alerts for their county.

Hoo boy.

==

A full year after Lorenz joined the Chill and Bird Watching and Nature Appreciation Club of the University of Fodlan (Leicester Campus), _warbler season was finally upon them._ Yes.

He had his reservations about the club when he first joined, but, well, the Audubon Society hikes were led by a gentleman who was both very knowledgeable and, ah, gave Lorenz a vague sense of disquiet. And the Birding Club was rather more competitive than Lorenz enjoyed, and the Hiking Club liked to go too quickly and loudly, and the Outing Club was more for snowshoeing and canoeing, and, well. Unexpectedly, the CaBWaNAC was almost perfectly Lorenz’s speed.

 _This year_ he was going to finally add the East-Faerghan Warbler to his life list. Lorenz had been dreaming of seeing this bird since freshman year, and now it was finally going to happen.

Somewhat to his surprise, when he brought it up to Leonie, she already knew what he was talking about.

“Little round bird, less than a mouthful, yellow-green with grey on its wings?” she said. 

“And subtle grey cheek patches and a grey crissum,” Lorenz supplied, nodding.

“A what?”

“The feathers under its tail are grey,” Lorenz said. 

“A grey butt,” Leonie said. Lorenz nodded.

“Yeah, we can go look for your bird. I was thinking this weekend we’d go out to Cooper’s Point and tramp around the woods.” That was where sightings had been reported last year, although the sole report so far this season was a little farther to the south. “I know a nice spot.”

“They prefer sugar maples,” Lorenz offered. She looked at him and smiled. She did that sometimes.

“I don’t remember what kind of trees are around there off the top of my head, but I have time this week to go scout the place before the weekend,” she said. “You should come with. Maybe we’ll see it. And we could get dinner afterwards.” That was terribly generous of her.

“I’d love to,” Lorenz said honestly. “Time permitting.” Who knew, perhaps he _would_ see the warbler while they were ‘scouting.’ Now Leonie was giving him an entirely different kind of smile, and Lorenz still didn’t know what to make of it.

Unfortunately, time did not permit. Thus, it wasn’t until that weekend that they set out for Cooper’s Point. 

It was mildly amusing that Leonie was such a bad morning person. She was the Vice President of a birding club, yet she didn’t seem to truly wake up until nine or so. So it was a surly Leonie who waited for Lorenz and the others in the parking lot.

“Coffee,” Lorenz said, offering her the mug that Ignatz had insisted he carry. She smiled and took it, closing her eyes to savor the first sip. Ashe and Sylvain appeared in short order, this time bearing breakfast burritos. Leonie perked up further at the prospect of food. They fitted themselves into her car and set off.

“Had to bring the thirty-pound camera, huh?” Leonie asked when they had arrived. She took Lorenz’s spotting scope out of his hands and gestured for him to pass her his camera as well. He declined.

“It’s not thirty pounds,” Lorenz corrected. She smiled crookedly, gestured again for the camera.

“Right. Only fifty,” she said. “C’mon, let me carry it. You’re too loaded down as it is.”

“I’ll be fine,” Lorenz protested. She kept her hand out.

“I can carry your camera,” Ashe offered.

“I would rather retain it,” Lorenz explained. Ashe shrugged, and Leonie followed suit.

“If you change your mind, just ask,” she bade him.

They set off. They hewed to a defined path for some ways before Leonie indicated it was time to leave the trail behind them. They followed after her, quiet for the most part. At length, she led them to an area of the forest with dense underbrush. Oh, that was—Lorenz admired it. It made progress more difficult, but the cover provided by the veritable thicket would be appealing to the birds. A few more minutes’ walk took them to—oh, it really was ideal. There was a downed tree in this part of the forest, which would likely provide bountiful insects for the warbler, if there was any around, and offer an opportunity to see the birds relatively unhindered. That was too good. Leonie set Lorenz’s spotting scope down with care and shrugged off her backpack. Out came the blanket. The rest of them followed suit, getting comfortable and retrieving any pieces of equipment as appropriate. Leonie led Ignatz a little ways off to suggest a painting site (Lorenz could hear a creek of some sort nearby), and Ashe trailed after them, field guide in hand. Sylvain flopped down on the blanket. Lorenz busied himself with finding the ideal position for his spotting scope.

Leonie returned at length, sans Ashe, looked at Lorenz, and produced from her backpack another blanket. This one was a simple fleece blanket, lacking the waterproof backing of the one Sylvain was currently using. Nevertheless, she spread it on the ground near Lorenz and patted it to indicate that he should sit. He did so. They sat, and watched the canopy above, and waited.

_Eee-ee! Eee-ee!_

Lorenz froze, looking up in the direction of the call. Sylvain was asleep and Ignatz and Ashe were probably by the creek, and Leonie was—out of the corner of his eye, he saw her freeze, also looking up. But that wasn’t as important as—

_Eee-ee! Eee-ee! Eee! Irr!_

That was it, that had to be it, that was the distinctive call of the East-Faerghan Warbler.

“That’s it, right?” Leonie whispered almost inaudibly. She’d crept closer while Lorenz was scanning the trees. He hushed her. “Right?” 

“Shh, yes, yes, shh! Keep looking, it’ll be yellow—”

“I know, hush,” Leonie said, employing the rare technique known as the counter-shush. Lorenz didn’t take offense, just kept staring avidly into the canopy.

_Eee-ee!_

Lorenz had his binoculars in one hand, but suddenly found that his free hand was being clutched by one Leonie Pinelli.

“There,” she hissed, “There, is that it, is it—?”

Lorenz stared wild-eyed into the patch of forest she indicated. There, a flicker of movement. He strained his eyes to see—a flash of, of yellow, he thought. He was barely able to make it out before it disappeared in another flicker of movement. He and Leonie strained their eyes, until—there. He squeezed Leonie’s hand, indicated the bird’s new position. He brought his binocular to his eyes, but—too late—

_Eee-ee! Eee-ee!_

“There,” Leonie whispered. “There, there, look—”

Lorenz looked—yellow body, grey wingbars, cheek patch—

“Come on,” he found himself whispering. “Come on…” There! The distinctive grey crissum. “That’s it, Leonie, it’s it, it—” He stared at it with adoration—it was lovelier than he’d even imagined, so full of life and, and beauty—before fumbling for his camera. If he could—just to see it was enough, but he had to _try_ —

Lorenz snapped what had to be at least two dozen photos. Undoubtedly, many of them were ruined by obscuring branches or poor focus, but perhaps one or two of them—

The bird flew off, and Lorenz—breathed. Oh, that—that was truly. That had been _it,_ the bird Lorenz had been seeking since he’d enrolled at this school, and now—

He turned to Leonie, beaming. 

“Leonie, I can’t begin to thank you enough for—”

He was abruptly cut off by Leonie, who was. Kissing him? Oh, oh, wow.

==

Leonie hadn’t, uh, meant to kiss Lorenz. Exactly. She—she wasn’t _against_ it, but she hadn’t planned—anyway, it was happening.

He made a surprised noise and—oh, that was nice. He parted his lips, and Leonie took the opportunity to deepen the kiss. _Nice._

They should probably still, uh, use their words or some shit so Leonie did break the kiss eventually. She stayed close, though, kept her arms looped around the back of his neck. He had his camera strap and his binoculars and hanging off his neck, man, that had to be heavy.

“I—didn’t expect that,” Lorenz said. He was pink in the face and blinking at her very cutely.

“Surprise,” she said brightly. “Hope you don’t mind.”

“No, not at all,” Lorenz assured her earnestly, still pink. “So, ah, does this mean, that is to say, you… are interested in me? Romantically?”

Was she interested in him romantically. She was subscribed to daily email updates about rare bird sightings. She had learned recognize the call of the East-Faerghan Warbler. Just this week, she’d invited him on a date to go _scouting for birding locations._ Was she interested in him romantically.

“Yes. I am very interested in you, romantically,” she said. Maybe this would work better if she was clearer in her intentions. “Will you go on a date with me.”

“I would love to,” Lorenz said, and he was pink all the way to the tips of his ears, and he was totally looking at her mouth which she took as invitation to kiss him again.

==

Ignatz and Ashe were back, and Sylvain was awake, so Lorenz wasted no time telling them about the warbler. They were all smiling broadly, as was Leonie (oh, that was really quite nice), and when Lorenz paused in his description of the bird, Ashe interjected.

“Are you sure that’s the only bird you saw?” His eyes almost seemed to be sparkling with some bright emotion.

“Of course not, this is a, a wonderful place for birding. While we were waiting, we also saw—”

“ _I_ saw a nice bird too,” Sylvain interrupted, which was surprising since he was in the habit of sleeping on their outings, but—“I saw a pair of _love_ birds.” _Oh._ Lorenz was aware of Leonie smiling broadly next to him, and everyone else’s expressions made so much more sense now. Oh. Lorenz didn’t know what to say, looked to the girl next to him. She grabbed his hand, kissed the back of his knuckles. _Oh,_ that was—Lorenz was blushing, and he couldn’t seem to stop smiling, and—

“Alright, dorks,” Leonie was saying, speaking to all of them but looking at Lorenz like she couldn’t look away. “Raph’s going to have eaten the entire contents of the Sunflower if we don’t head out soon. Let’s get a move on, okay?” There were noises of assent, and Leonie (and Lorenz) was the recipient of several friendly pats on the back. They trekked out of the woods, and Leonie carried not only Lorenz’s scope but also his camera (it was rather heavy) and Lorenz walked at her shoulder and listened to the sounds of the birds around them.

**Author's Note:**

> I uh did some [drawrings](https://twitter.com/readythefanons/status/1310071787527446528?s=20) too @///@ Just cuz.
> 
> IF YOU ENJOYED THIS, please consider checking out [fleche](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20606663) by mintables. Summary: _It's the first tournament of the season, but Dimitri's mind is anywhere but on fencing. It's not his fault Dedue is so distracting._ This is Dimitri/Dedue, and it is so goddamned fluffy and soft, I love it. It inspired me to write this fic, I was like 'dang that fencing au was so good, i wish i could--oh. maybe??? birds???' That, and seeing a rare bird with someone.


End file.
